Maternity Floor
by rememberalways
Summary: Castle hopes they're all fighters, too. Slightly AU. Spoilers for Knockout and Rise. One shot, complete.


A/N: Proofread by only me and on the fly so any and all mistakes are mine. All disclaimers apply. You know the drill.

* * *

**Maternity Floor**

* * *

"Which one's yours?"

Castle is standing with four fingers pressed to the bottom of the thick, warm window when he hears the voice at his side. He doesn't even realize someone is there until they've spoken.

"I'm sorry?" he rasps out, looking at the man to his side.

"Which one's yours?" the man asks again, hands in his pockets, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet from pure joy. "The pink one in the corner of there? That's my daughter. Baby number two. I'm not sure how I let my wife talk me into another one, but my first daughter is pretty special so I can't really – "

The man trails off as she starts to take in the obvious exhaustion written on the lines of Castle's face; the devastation, the emotion, the worry. He takes a step back to allow Castle the space he clearly needs.

"Hey man, are you okay?"

"I'm – well, no," Castle responds, sighing, pushing his fingers to his eye sockets. "My partner from work," he adds, as to not convey the wrong idea. "She was shot in the chest today. Bullet grazed her heart. She's strong, she's a fighter, but there's only so much someone can take. Everyone has their limits, right?"

"So, if you don't mind my asking," the man starts slowly, carefully, clearing his throat. "What are you doing on the maternity floor?"

"There's hardly any sadness here," Castle responds, the inevitable smile pulling at his lips. "I mean, just look at you."

The man is caught between a rock and a hard place, but beams happily beside himself.

"Do you have any children?" he asks Castle.

"A daughter, Alexis. She's going off to college soon, leaving the nest," he replies. "You said this was your second?"

"Yes. Mary was our first, she's two and a half. That one over there," he points again, fingers shaking with excitement. "That's Katherine."

Castle chokes on the tears he feels rising at the familiar name, voice shakes on the answer.

"You've named her Katherine?"

The man nods. "After my wife's mother."

Castle watches as the nurse inside waves to his new friend to come into the nursery and as he pivots on his heels, Castle speaks to him again.

"That's my partners name, the one who was shot."

"Well then," the man comes back over, places his hand on Castle's shoulder, squeezes hard. "I hope my Katherine will be just as much of a fighter as yours."

Castle nods at the man and watches as he goes through the door into the nursery and over to where the nurse has his daughter in a bassinet.

Castle hopes they're all fighters, too.

* * *

"Castle, I am _not _in labor."

"Beckett, _yes_ you are."

She shoots him a nasty look that everyone in the precinct can practically feel as nine months of no coffee begin to boil over and she's just about to shoot back a retort that was supposed to sound somewhere along the lines of _Shut up, Castle _when her water breaks all over Esposito's shoes.

"Oh Beckett, come on!" Espo says, sauntering off to find some paper towels, tossing a good luck over his shoulder.

"Can we go to the hospital _now_?"

Kate is not impressed.

* * *

He's approaching the nursery and spots the man there when he's rounding the corner, flowers in hand.

Strained posture and all, the man has the fingers of his left hand pressed to the glass, the fingers of his right hand wiping at his face, where lines of stress and worry gather at the creases of his eyes.

As Castle approaches the window, the man turns and shares a familiar smile.

"It might have been six years ago, but I sincerely hope no one's been shot again," he says.

"Nope, no shootings today," Castle responds as he extends his hand. "I'm Rick. Figured if we had to keep meeting like this, I should introduce myself."

"Max," the man responds.

"Don't tell me you've got another one?" Castle motions to the nursery jokingly.

"Nah," Max replies, shaking his head. "Took your idea. I needed some cheering up."

"What happened?"

Max let out the answer on a half laugh. "The cat got stuck in the tree and my wife climbed the tree to get Melon – "

"Your cat's name is Melon?"

"Weird names happen with kids," Max shrugs. "So the cat jumped and startled my wife, who fell out of the tree and broke her arm."

"Is she alright?"

"She'll be okay. They set it and gave her a cast. The kids were just pretty worked up, you know? That sticks with you. You were right though, the maternity ward is a much happier place to be."

"Couldn't agree with you more," Castle said happily.

"So, now is it appropriate to ask which one is yours?"

Castle points against the window to a little bundle in blue, right in the center of the room in a sea of pink.

"He's a beautiful baby, Rick. Congradulations."

"Thank you."

"I'd better go check on my wife, they'll probably be sending her home soon."

"Good luck to you, man. She'll be back to bossing you all around in no time. Women are good at that."

"Thanks."

Castle watches as Max turns to go, stops and turns back to face him.

"Hey, can I ask what happened to your partner that time I found you here?"

"Oh, Kate?" Castle asks, smile increasing by volumes. "She recovered well, a few bumps in the road, but we got our act together. She's resting now."

"You mean?" Max motions to the glass, smile on his face.

Castle nods happily.

"Well congratulations to you both. You certainly deserve it."

When he enters the room, her head is lulled to the side and she's all limp from exhaustion, sleep taking over her body but as he closes the short distance from the doorway to her bed, she stirs and blinks up at him.

"There are my two favorite men," Kate says sleepily. "How's he doing?"

"He's good. He was surrounded by all the girl babies in the nursery. Enjoying all the good looks he got from me."

"Oh, I'm sure," she replies, putting out her arms for the baby.

Castle watches the interaction between his wife and new son, as Kate coos to the little baby and then looks up and smiles at him and he thinks that yes, this is a much happier floor to be on.

* * *

A/N2: Those of you who read _Waiting _know that I have a very ill mother who I'm probably going to lose soon. (And if you didn't read _Waiting, you _could still do so but if you don't want to well, now you know. :) I've been in the ICU every day for the last two weeks with her and my family and every now and again, we venture up the the maternity floor. I met a very nice man there two days ago and my conversation with him is what sparked this. Hope you enjoyed this! Take care. :)


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